What I'm Thankful For
by ThatWeirdOtaku21
Summary: Vexshipping Oneshot. It's Thanksgiving and Anzu is hurriedly trying to prepare for it. Bakura doesn't really see the point in celebrating it. After talking to her, does he find what he is thankful for? Happy Thanksgiving everyone!


**A/N: Okay, so you guys were probably expecting an update for Mirror Mirror On The Wall. But, since it's Thanksgiving I decided I'd do a Vexshipping one shot! **

**I love this pairing, it's my OTP. It really needs more love. So I shall contribute to the fanfiction archive for Vexshipping! :D**

**Nothing heated in here, just some fluffiness.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. *goes and cries in a corner***

**Enjoy!**

**X**

The crisp autumn air seemed calming to Anzu. She was never really fond of the cold but on days where it wasn't too bad she enjoyed it. The cool air was revitalizing in a way and helped to clear her mind.

And right now, she really could use some peace of mind.

It was Thanksgiving, and every year she and the others took turns on where to have Christmas dinner and Thanksgiving dinner. Last year it was at Yuugi's house, and of course this year it was her turn to have both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner.

She knew she would have to double up on all the food she got since Jounouchi and Honda ate so much. Their stomachs were like bottomless pits! And of course, like an idiot, she'd waited until the day before Thanksgiving to go out and buy the stuff she needed.

And things were rather hectic at the grocery store. People were bumping into each other and fighting over products. She saw two women fight over the last jar of cranberry sauce, and their husbands had to tear them apart. Admittedly, it was kind of funny. She couldn't even begin to imagine how much worse Black Friday would be.

She took a deep breath and decided she would make it quick and get in and get out. She looked at her list that she had scribbled down at the last minute.

_Turkey_

_Ham_

_Cranberry Sauce_

_Potatoes_

_Dinner Rolls_

_Pie Crust_

_Instant Pudding_

_Whipped Cream_

_Frozen Green Beans_

_Mixed Vegetables_

With a slight groan, Anzu headed to the first aisle of the store.

This would be fun.

* * *

Anzu looked down at her cart. She'd gotten everything she wanted, and she'd even had to fight for a few things. Luckily she'd gotten out alive.

She looked up and found that it was raining and sleeting, and she groaned again. She had to walk home in these conditions?! What happened to the sun? With a loud huff, she grabbed her bags and began her grueling walk back to her apartment.

Anzu was relieved to walk into the welcoming warmth of her apartment. It had a very homey (A/N: If that's a word... you guys know what I mean) feel to it. She'd adorned her apartment with pictures of her dance class and her friends, and a few of her childhood. Her parents were hardly around so there weren't very many family pictures. That's why she adored her friends so much. That's also why she wasn't surprised to hear that her family couldn't make it to her apartment for Thanksgiving. They hadn't been able to for the past four years and by now she was used to it.

She shook away the bad memory. Now was not the time to be upset. She set her groceries in the kitchen which was cleaned ahead of time. She then returned to her living room and wrinkled her nose. It was a mess! She'd have to clean it later, if she found the time.

Anzu had told the others to come over at around five. It was one now. If she planned everything right and got started now, the only thing that should still be cooking when they got here was the turkey. And even then it would only be about fifteen to thirty minutes before it would be done. Nodding to herself, Anzu got to work on preparing Thanksgiving dinner.

xxxxx

It was four thirty when the first person got here. Anzu rolled her eyes and gave a slightly irritated sigh. "_I told them to come at five!"_

She was surprised to say the least to find Ryou and Bakura at her door. She pushed her earlier feelings of anger and irritation aside. "Hey guys!"

"Hey Anzu!" Ryou chirped happily. "Sorry we're a bit early, I must have misread the time."

"You're fine! C'mon in! The food's not done yet but you guys are more than welcome to stay." She sidestepped to let them in. She looked around and saw that her apartment was a mess. Great, right when you have company over.

"Um, sorry about the mess. I've been really busy and I haven't had much time to clean." she offered. _"Way to go Anzu. Great excuse."_

"It's fine, I don't mind." Ryou replied, hanging his coat on the coat rack. "I understand."

Anzu seemed slightly more comfortable now. "So Ryou, tell me how you got Mr. Grumpy to come out of his room." Anzu joked, and Bakura glared at her.

Ryou laughed. "Well, it wasn't easy. When he found out there would be lots of food he decided to go."

She giggled. "You realize there's a lot more to it, right?"

"I could really care less about that "thankful" crap. Like Ryou said, I'm just here for the food." Bakura replied nonchalantly. Anzu's temper flared a bit, but she managed to keep herself calm.

"Right. Well boys, make yourselves at home. The others should be getting here soon."

"Great." Bakura remarked sarcastically. Anzu fought the urge to throw something at him. Keeping her cool, she headed into the kitchen while Ryou seemed quite angry.

_"Hmph! What a jerk!"_ Anzu thought to herself. _"How dare he waltz in here and make a joke out of the holiday I've worked so hard to prepare for?! I can't believe he has the nerve to say that about a time when you're together with friends and family! He has to have something to be thankful for!" _

"I'm just here for the food." she mimicked childishly in a terrible impression of Bakura's voice. "Hmph!"

_"I mean, honestly. Why didn't Ryou just leave him at home?!"_

* * *

"Could you stop being so mean?!" Ryou snapped at him. Bakura gave an amused smirk.

"So I managed to make you mad? I was waiting for that day to come."

"That's besides the point! You're being rude!"

"No, you haven't seen rude."

Ryou fumed before rubbing his temples. "Why didn't I leave you at home?"

"I don't know, why didn't you? I would have been perfectly fine with that. You chose to drag me along." Bakura reminded him, folding his arms over his chest.

"Well, maybe that's because I wanted you to have fun!" Bakura looked shocked for a moment, but his expression quickly returned to his usual taunting smirk.

"Trust me, your idea of fun and my idea of fun are two completely different things."

"I'll say, since your idea of fun probably consists of robbing people." Anzu cut in from the kitchen.

Bakura's lips curled up into a smirk. "Indeed Mazaki, now that you mention it you do have some nice things in here…"

Anzu immediately came in from the kitchen, a warning gleam in her eyes. "Go ahead and take something. See what happens."

"What's with the attitude? Surprisingly I'm in a good mood today."

Anzu laughed. "If this is you in a good mood, I can only imagine what you're like when you're in a bad mood."

Bakura walked up to where he was nose to nose with her. A fierce anger burned in his eyes. "Why don't you find out?"

Ryou split them apart. "This is Thanksgiving, we're not supposed to be fighting!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Please Ryou, what's the point of this holiday anyway? I don't have anything to be thankful for, so what's the point in celebrating it?"

"The point is for people who _are_ thankful to celebrate it! It's for people who are thankful for their _lives _and their _health, _and their _families!_" Anzu replied angrily. She seemed to quite literally be seething with anger.

Bakura came back with just as much anger and fire if not more. "What family, Mazaki?! Need I remind you that my family was _killed?!_ And do you think I _wanted_ to be brought back?! I much rather would have died and been with my family than be here where I'm constantly reminded that I have _nothing!_"

Anzu and Ryou were silent. They hadn't expected such an outburst from him. Bakura hated showing emotion, and to see this sudden act of it was shocking.

Though before Anzu could find what to say, he had stormed out the door.

She then felt an overwhelming sense of guilt wash over her. She hadn't meant to make him so mad. She was about to go outside and talk to him, but Ryou stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder.

"This happens a lot," he told her, "just let him cool off."

"But Ryou, I'm the reason he-"

"He'll be okay."

Anzu was still unsure, but she nodded nonetheless and returned to her cooking.

X

The others began to arrive soon after that incident, and none of them questioned why Bakura was sitting outside, let alone why he was even there in the first place. In fact, they didn't even seem to notice.

"_Or care."_ Anzu thought bitterly as she set the last plate of food down on the table.

Jounouchi hovered over the turkey. "Alright Anzu, looks good!"

She hit his hand with a spoon. "Don't touch it yet! I'll be right back, okay? If any of you try to touch anything, you'll be in trouble." She warned as she walked out of the dining room and walked outside.

"Bakura-kun, the food's ready." She said softly.

"I'm not hungry." Bakura replied without looking at her.

She looked down sadly before sitting down next to him. "Look Bakura, I… I'm sorry about what I said earlier… it really was insensitive, and a bit rude…"

He still would not look at her. "It's not really that that bothers me Mazaki, but I accept your apology."

She seemed relieved but worried at the same time. "Well then, what's wrong?"

He looked at her for the first time since she came out, but the eye contact was broken when he looked down again. "You wouldn't understand."

"Maybe not," she murmured, "but that doesn't mean I won't try to help you."

He chuckled. "Well...it's just that everywhere I go is a constant reminder of what I was. I can't seem to shake what I used to be out of my head… and it kills me terribly. They all look at me like I'm going to snap and kill them all at any second."

"Who does?"

"Yuugi, his idiot friends, and sometimes people I don't even know." Anzu looked down and mouthed a small 'oh'. He was right, though. Her friends did not trust him in the least, and she didn't know why. They forgave Malik, so she could not understand why they wouldn't forgive him.

She placed her hand on his cheek and moved his head to get him to look at her. "I trust you, Bakura. I forgave you a long time ago and so did Ryou."

He looked down in sudden shame. "Ryou… has been good to me… hasn't he?"

Anzu was a bit taken aback, but she nodded. "Yup. He's done everything he can to help you."

Bakura looked away again. "If he knew who I was, he wouldn't help me."

She suddenly seemed angry. "That's just the problem!"

He looked up in sudden shock. _"Since when did she get angry..?"_

"You won't let go of the past! You keep looking back at who you were, and you're letting it affect who you are now!" she shouted, and he saw that tears were threatening to fall.

"I can't hide who I was. I was a killer, controlled by that demon." He replied shamefully. He remembered the days that he was known as Thief King Bakura quite clearly. The days when he was feared by everyone in Egypt. After he had set Zorc free, he had taken advantage of him because of the slaughtering of Kul Elna and made him his personal slave. Since those days he'd asked for forgiveness, however for some reason Yuugi and his friends would not forgive him. The only ones who forgave him were Anzu and Ryou. And even afterward he was sent judgemental glares in public by people that he didn't know. That's why he didn't like going with Ryou out in public.

Ryou had been good to him. He'd given him a place to stay, given him food, and provided entertainment. Ryou had put up with his cold demeanor and sour attitude with patience. He wouldn't be able to handle someone with an attitude like that.

Anzu had been good to him as well. She hadn't sent him dirty looks. She'd tried to be his friend multiple times but he'd rejected her again and again, claiming that he preferred being alone. There were times where she threatened to never talk to him, and that worried him, but she always talked to him again anyway. Admittedly, he was grateful for that.

He was brought out of his thoughts when she grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look at her and only her. "Was, was, was! That's not who you are now! You're different now! Zorc doesn't control you anymore! Ryou and I believe that, and we believe in you! And if my friends or anyone else doesn't, then who cares?!"

His chocolate brown eyes widened and the hard exterior they had cracked, letting the light and life he had stored away shine in them. He smiled as a way to reassure her. She was right. Who really _cares _what they think?

She grabbed his hand and weaved her fingers with his own. "Do you believe me now?" she asked, and he gave her a confident smirk. That confident smirk that fitted him so much better than that shameful pout. She loved seeing him like this, confident and brave. She liked seeing him not caring what other people thought.

"I'm not quite sure," he neared her face, "perhaps you need to prove it to me."

With a giggle and a slight blush, she leaned forward and captured his lips within her own. He responded eagerly, and as she continued to kiss him he could feel all of his pain melting away. It was as if she was kissing his pains and sorrows away, and he was loving every minute of it.

However all good things must come to an end, and this did so when she pulled away.

"I always knew you were a big softie." She said with a giggle, and he rolled his eyes and leaned forward to kiss her again when Ryou opened the door.

"Hey Anzu, the others wanted to know when you were gonna…am I interrupting?" He asked, his cheeks turning a bright red.

Anzu's cheeks took on a bright shade of scarlet as well before separating from Bakura and turning to Ryou. "Yeah, we're coming."

X

When everyone left at around midnight, it was just Anzu, Bakura, and Ryou left.

"Finally… we're alone." He murmured somewhat seductively before kissing the corner of her mouth.

Anzu went crimson from her cheeks to her neck. "B-Bakura!"

He laughed, and for the first time in a long time, it was a true, not taunting laugh. "Relax, I wasn't planning on that."

Ryou walked in from the kitchen. "From the look on her face I thought you'd given her a heart attack Bakura. Now let's go home, I'm sure Anzu would like some sleep."

"I'll be out in a second Ryou." Bakura said, as if he was barely listening to him. Ryou rolled his eyes and turned back around to find him kissing her.

"Be sure to let her breathe, Bakura!" he joked before running into the car. Bakura would probably kill him when they got home.

Bakura let himself indulge in her touch a little while longer before separating. He bid her goodnight and walked outside into the cool November air.

That Thanksgiving, he'd found what he was thankful for. ~

**A/N: Yay, finished! That was fun! I do apologize if Bakura is OOC, but I thought it'd be nice to see that sweet side of him. The ending was kind of rushed because I'm lazy, sorry. :( Oh, and please let me know if I'm wrong about Bakura being controlled by Zorc. It's been a long time since I've seen Season 5 of Yu-Gi-Oh so my facts might be wrong. Anyway, happy Thanksgiving everybody! :D**

**Review please!**

**~TWO21 (ThatWeirdOtaku21)**


End file.
